


Hearts on Fire Tonight

by orphan_account



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Awkward Flirting, F/F, Fluff, Mortal AU, Planning a Party, Some kissing, cuteness, space-themed party
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-23 05:25:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13780647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Bill doesn't know how she ended up planning this party.  All she knows is that she's crushing hard and Heather couldn't possibly like her back.  Right?





	Hearts on Fire Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so I said like a year ago that I'd post more Flowerpotts soon... well, here it is at last. I've actually had this mostly done for months but never got around to writing the conclusion... so finally I said 'screw this' and posted it without a conclusion. I'll add another chapter once I've actually written the party scene- no idea when that will be though.
> 
> Also, check me out on tumblr! https://www.tumblr.com/blog/theevilcactus

"So just fold the paper like this- no, not that corner! The other corner!" Bill laughs, trying to correct the other girl's mistakes. "And then you pull these two sides together and tape them down."

  
"Aren't you supposed to not use tape? Isn't that cheating or something?" Heather asks, a faint smile tugging at her lips as she reaches for the tape.

  
"Hey, if you think you can make it stay without tape, go right ahead." Bill offers, shrugging.

  
Heather does not say anything as she tapes the inside of her lantern. For several moments, the pair are silent as they study their creations. Then Heather speaks.

  
"I don't think this is what they're supposed to look like."

  
Bill shakes her head. "They look nothing like the pictures." She holds up her phone, scrolling down the directions until she reaches the photographs.  They had been trying to make these paper lanterns for at least twenty minutes, but the online instructions were infuriatingly difficult to follow. "Maybe it was the other corner after all?" She glances between the two pictures questioningly.

  
"Penny is going to kill me." The blonde sighs.

  
"Penny?" Bill can’t help the spike of jealousy that flared up in her. _Don't be ridiculous, Bill, she's just a friend. And probably straight. And most definitely not someone you have any right to be jealous of._

  
"My RA. She's the one who came up with this whole thing." Heather explains, glancing up briefly as she attempts to fix her paper lantern. "Maybe it'll look better with lights in?"

  
"Come on." Bill stands up, grabbing her wallet from the table. She grabs Heather's hand and pulls her up, ignoring the way her heart jumped at the touch.

  
"Where are we going?" Heather asks, but does not fight.

  
"I think there's a Party City in the mall. And besides, aren't you the one who 'always wants to leave'?" Bill teases, laughing. Heather smiles genuinely then, not trying to hide it.

  
"Well then, what are you waiting for? Let's go."

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Twenty minutes later, the two girls are standing in the aisle of a party store. There is a wall of bagged paper lanterns in front of them, far too many choices for any sane person to have. "Somehow I thought there would be less of them." Bill voices both of their thoughts, eyes wide as she takes in the options.

  
"Me too." Heather agrees, reaching out. "Well, these seem normal." She reaches out and grabs a pack of pale yellow round lanterns.

  
"But those are boring!" Bill argues, snatching them away and placing the package back on the shelf. "How about... these colorful ones?"

  
"It's a dorm party, not a... I can't even think of a time you'd want those." The blonde shakes her head. "The colors don't even match."

  
"Well, I'm not letting you get something boring. If you don't want colorful, at least get a cool shape."

  
"Colors are fine, I just don't want that." Heather retorts. "How about these?" She snatches another package. Bill takes another one from the stack and studied it. "Well, these seem fun." She smiles, looking at the multicolored lanterns. "What are all the little holes?"

  
"There's a picture on the back." Heather flips Bill's package over. Their fingers brush, and Bill feels her heart skip a beat. _No. Bad Bill. Very bad Bill._

  
The picture shows a string of lit lanterns against a black background, projecting an array of colors. Tiny pinpricks of white light give the illusion of stars. "Stars. Like..." Bill trails off, doing her best not to blush.

  
"Like what?" Heather's voice is calm, but it sounds so close to her ear that Bill nearly jumped.

  
_Like your eye_. But Bill can't say that. She would sound like some sort of creeper. "Like outer space. We could do a space party." She suggests, trying not to give away her crush.

  
"A space party?" Bill turns so she is facing Heather. The blonde girl is tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, avoiding eye contact. "I think you'd make a great astronaut."

  
"You think so?" Bill asks, smiling wider. "Well, I think you'd be the outer space princess."

  
"And you'd be my loyal bodyguard." Heather teases, twirling the strand of hair around her finger. Bill doubts the girl even knows she is doing it.

  
"Oh for fuck's sake, get a room." A loud voice shatters their moment. The package slips through Bill's fingertips as she whirls around, eyes wide and cheeks flaming. A sales attendant is standing at the entrance of the aisle, looking utterly bored but also amused.

  
"Excuse me?" Heather asks, but she didn't sound angry. She just sounds confused, and maybe a little sad. "We're not-"  
"We're just-"

  
"Yeah, keep telling yourselves that." The boy rolls his eyes, walking into another aisle out of their sight. Bill turns to Heather, trying to keep it together.

  
"Well that was rude." Bill speaks after several seconds of awkward silence. "And I wasn't- I didn't mean to-"

  
"I know. It's fine." Heather cuts her off. Is Bill imagining the sadness creeping into her tone? She has to be.

  
"So let's get the lanterns?" Her voice is a little squeaky, but Bill thinks she manages to sound almost normal. Some of the embarrassment is fading, but she is still absolutely terrified that Heather will realize. Once she knows Bill liked her, she’ll leave.

  
"Yeah, the lanterns." Heather's cheeks are tinged pink, and she is averting her gaze. Bill wants to kiss her, more than anything. To run her hands through that blonde hair and taste her lips and... _NO_!

  
Half an hour later, they are back at Heather's dorm. Bill is carrying the lanterns and a garland of silver stars. Hanging from Heather's arm as a plastic grocery bag. A large bag of chips and several packets of blue jello are sticking out of the top, one packet threatening to fall to the ground.

  
"So how do we set all this up?" Bill asks, setting the lanterns down. The awkwardness has mostly evaporated during the car ride, which she is thankful for, but Heather still won’t quite meet her eye.

  
"We can probably use tape for the lanterns. It's the food I'm worried about."

  
"Well, where's the tape?" Bill asks with forced brightness, dropping her packages on the counter.

  
Her question is met with several seconds of silence. "I'll go get some. You get started on the jello."

  
"Ok. But just so you know, I'm _really_ bad at making jello." Bill admits, grinning as Heather rolled her eyes.

  
"Ok, fine. We can make the jello together, and I'll get tape when we're done." Heather revises her plan, pulling a packet of jello out of the bag. “How hard can it be?”

________________________________________________________________________________________________

  
Very hard, as it turns out. Twenty minutes later, Bill is putting the last cup of jello in the fridge. At Heather’s request, the pair had added edible glitter and star-shaped sprinkles to the jello to give it the illusion of a galaxy. Somehow Heather’s face and hair have ended up dusted with blue jello powder, and Bill thinks she could see a sprinkle tangled in her own hair out of the corner of her eye.

  
“Hold still.” Heather whispers, stepping closer. Bill hardly dares to breathe as the gap between them is closed, until their lips are nearly touching. She’s frozen, every muscle in her body screaming for her to kiss Heather but she just can’t. The star in her eye- the faint pinkness her cheeks- the dusting of blue on her lower lip. How could this get any more perfect?

  
Heather reaches up slowly and brushes a sprinkle off of Bill’s lip. “There.” She breathes, not stepping back.

  
“Can I kiss you?” Bill whispers, throwing away all of her reservations. This isn’t the time to be afraid.

  
Heather doesn’t reply. Or at least, not with words. She reaches up and stands on her tiptoes, rising to Bill’s height and entwining her hands in her hair. She leans in slowly, fluidly- Bill thinks the anticipation is going to kill her. Their lips meet and all she can feel is _Heather_ \- soft lips and blue jello and _happiness_ and the rest of the world fades away.

  
Her hands rise up to brush Heather’s cheeks, before tangling themselves in her hair. Their kiss is slow and perfect and everything a kiss should be. _Heather_ is perfect and Bill has been dreaming of her for _weeks_ since they met and if she knew it would be like this she would have acted on her feelings forever ago.

  
“So that’s a yes?” Bill jokes breathlessly, after they break apart.

  
Heather smiles softly, not releasing Bill from her embrace. “Did that feel like a ‘no’ to you?” She replies, breath warm on Bill’s lips.

  
“I think I’m in love,” Bill says, not even realizing what she’s saying.

  
Heather does not reply to that either, but her eyes do widen slightly. They remain in that position, with Bill pinned between Heather and the fridge door, for several seconds before Heather speaks.

  
“We should finish setting up.” She mumbles against Bill’s collarbone, having allowed herself to fall back into her normal height.  
“Do we have to?” Bill asks softly, trying to hide the hitch in her breath at the unexpected touch of Heather’s lips.

  
“Mmm.” Heather sighs, before disentangling herself from Bill’s embrace. “Unless you want my dormmates to walk in on us.”  
“Maybe later, then.” Bill sighs, touching a finger to her lips to remember the feeling of Heather’s touch.

  
They finish setting up without further incident, although Bill feels Heather’s eyes on her the whole time. An hour later, the lights are all up (Bill had found the missing tape underneath the couch, although she couldn’t imagine what it was doing there) and the jello cups are being taken out of the fridge.

  
The doorbell rings. The first guests have arrived.


End file.
